HyettPalma
703-683-5126
info@hyettpalma.com

Featured Project:
Downtown Lafayette, Indiana

The Lafayette City Council determined that a Downtown enhancement strategy was needed to further revitalize Downtown Lafayette. Through the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns Foundation’s Indiana Downtown® program, HyettPalma defined the Lafayette Downtown Action Agenda with involvement from the City government, the local business sector, and members of the community. The Lafayette Downtown Action Agenda incorporates the desires, preferences, and concerns expressed by the people of Lafayette for their Downtown. This local input was used as the foundation of the project.

The City of Lafayette has a thriving Downtown that is experiencing a high degree of investment. This has come about as the result of many years of hard work on the part of both the private and public sectors. This hard work started with a mammoth project: the $185,000,000 relocation of the railroad tracks which once bisected and crisscrossed Downtown. And, that hard work has continued to this day, resulting in a myriad of Downtown amenities which include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Riehle Plaza;
• The Main Street pedestrian bridge;
• The Depot building — moved to its current Downtown location;
• The Intermodal Transit Center;
• Courthouse Square, with its beautiful, historic Tippecanoe County Courthouse;
• The newly constructed Tippecanoe County Office Building and 500 space parking garage;
• The Downtown farmers market, which has been in operation since 1839;
• A combination of long-established businesses — including the oldest pharmacy in the State and the oldest continuously operating tavern — as well as newly opened businesses;
• The newly constructed public library;
• The newly constructed Columbia Center professional office building;
• The Holiday Inn Select, scheduled to open in the Spring of 2002, which will include 142 guest rooms, an 8,000 square foot banquet space, a restaurant, a lounge, and 100 parking spaces — making it a full-service hotel;
• A variety of entertainment and cultural venues, including Long Center for the Performing Arts, Civic Theater, Thomas Duncan Hall, the Greater Lafayette Museum of Art, etc.;
• All of the community’s major churches, which are located in Downtown;
• Proximity to the Wabash River, affording attractive vistas; and
• Festivals, which are held Downtown, and draw tens of thousands of people.

Each of the above amenities is important because it attracts users and potential customers to Downtown.

In addition, Downtown has many strengths on which to build. These include, but again are not limited to, the following:

• A significant base of successful retail, restaurant, and office businesses;
• A strong housing market — with the number of housing units almost doubling since 1990 from 273 to 503 — a high housing occupancy rate, a waiting list for many structures containing apartments, and a large number of upper-story apartments under construction;
• Investor confidence — evidenced by the considerable number of investors interested in and investing in Downtown;
• Lender confidence;
• Strong City Hall support;
• A considerable number of effective, non-profit organizations that are actively involved in Downtown’s enhancement;
• Viable residential neighborhoods adjacent to Downtown — with organized and active civic associations;
• Designation of Downtown historic districts, as a means of recognizing the importance of Downtown’s exceptional architecture;
• Creation of financial incentives to assist and entice investors to Downtown; and
• A variety of markets to potentially draw customers from, including Downtown workers and residents, residents of adjacent neighborhoods, government users, entertainment/cultural venue users, Purdue students/faculty/parents/visitors, and customers and residents of nearby Wabash Landing in West Lafayette.

Downtown Lafayette’s amenities and strengths add up to the following facts:

• Downtown Lafayette is the government, finance, and professional center of Tippecanoe County and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future;
• The community has a history of implementing what is planned;
• Downtown enjoys the confidence of government, lenders, and investors — which is extremely important since, with the confidence of all three of these entities, virtually any desired future can become reality in Downtown Lafayette;
• Due to this confidence, Downtown’s range of offerings has depth — this depth includes specialty retail, convenience retail, professional offices, service businesses, food, housing, art and entertainment, government, and lodging;
• Downtown has strong markets on which to draw;
• Downtown has a great deal to promote to those markets — including specialty shops, fine dining, entertainment/cultural venues, a historic and pedestrian-oriented atmosphere and more;
• The community takes pride in Downtown and Downtown’s health;
• Those involved in Downtown’s enhancement have proven that they can and do invest both their time and money in Downtown; and
• Downtown represents the City well, in terms of the image it portrays of the community and the statement it makes about the quality-of-life enjoyed by those who live in Lafayette.

Due to the above amenities, strengths, and facts, much more can be achieved in Downtown over the next 5 to 10 years.

In the 1990s, the community’s Downtown-related goal was to increase the number of people who work, live, and play in Downtown Lafayette. Today, that goal has been expanded to increasing the number of people who work, live, play, and visit Downtown. The current goal can be reached by:

• Taking the Downtown enhancement effort on to the next level of sophistication and success;
• Creating additional attractions in Downtown;
• Continuing to implement large enhancement projects in Downtown while placing a renewed focus on small, important improvements; and
• Focusing implementation on the issues of business development, beautification, maintenance, and public relations.